


Those Who Defend

by CrimsonKnight (MYuzuki)



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Chapter 1-4 have been re-written and are much better now, Dysfunctional Relationships, Eventual Happy Ending, Eventual Relationships, F/M, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Gen, Human Experimentation, Magic-Users, Original Character(s), Other, Post-Canon, Twins, and there will be all new content moving forward
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-04-30
Updated: 2013-05-08
Packaged: 2017-11-04 15:12:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/395242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MYuzuki/pseuds/CrimsonKnight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Valeria and her twin sister Vanessa have no desire to get dragged into an epic quest to save the world. But when a mysterious group calling themselves Justice appears, they may not have a choice. Combined with the return of heroes and enemies long thought dead, the stage is set for what may be the greatest conflict yet.<br/>(Eventual Weiss/OC and Genesis/OC, probably.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so some basic info on the story: this fic takes place about a year or so after Dirge of Cerberus, and the main characters are my two original characters, Valeria and Vanessa, who are twin sisters and in about their early twenties. This story might end up being a little on the long side because of the plot I have in mind, but we'll see. It'll involve Genesis, and maybe Sephiroth coming back eventually (hopefully with his sanity restored, because I actually liked him in Crisis Core before he went all nutzo), and of course a big bad villain. There will definitely be Weiss at some point (probably not as axe-crazy as he was in DoC because I attribute a fair bit of that nastiness to Hojo taking control of him). There may or may not be any of Nero; I have a few ideas for what to do with him, but we'll see.
> 
> It's also worth mentioning that this story had been re-written since it was first posted, and that the current chapters are improved and expanded versions of the original material. So if you're coming back to re-read this story and going, "Wait, what?" that's what happened. XD
> 
> Anyway, I'm talking too much. XD. Enjoy the story.

Valeria rode her motorcycle home from work, thinking the entire time of how to tell her sister the news.

It wasn't _entirely_ bad news, but it was by no means goods news either.

"Vanessa," she called out, dismounting her bike and walking into their apartment. "I'm home."

"Welcome back," a voice called from the kitchen, before it was followed by its owner.

As usual, it was practically like staring into a mirror. Valeria and her twin sister Vanessa were almost identical. The only differences were height and eye color. Vanessa was two inches shorter, and had pale blue eyes, while Valeria's were bright green. Both girls were twenty-four years old, but their individual styles of dress didn't quite match those of their contemporaries. Or for that matter, even the style of one another; Valeria wore practical military-style clothing while Vanessa opted for more loose-fitting and elegant outfits.

"How was your day?" Vanessa asked, giving her sister a quick hug before pulling back to peer at her face intently. "Something must have gone wrong; you're frowning yet again."

Valeria sighed and gave a tired smile. "Reeve received some odd reports this morning, about people a couple towns away showing strange behavior and then disappearing."

Vanessa's eyes widened. "But nothing here in Edge, right?"

"Not yet," Valeria agreed, "no."

"But he wants you to investigate?"

Valeria shrugged. As a member of the WRO, she was often sent to look into anything that might lead to another threat to the Planet or its inhabitants. It was, after all, pretty much their mission statement. "He didn't _order_ me to go anywhere. For now he just wants me to keep an eye out here in town, in case something happens."

"Why not ask Cloud or Vincent?" Vanessa asked, pursing her lips. "They're all heroic or whatever, saving the world. Repeatedly, I might add."

Valeria snorted. "This isn't a big enough deal for them in look into personally, Nessa. I'm sure if it turns into another emergency they'll help, but until then…"

"I'm calling Tifa," Vanessa complained. "She can get Cloud to investigate, or maybe one of their other friends. I'm tired of you getting sent all over the place _all the time_ when there are plenty of people around who can do the same thing."

"Nessa!" Valeria grabbed her sister's wrist before she could grab the cordless phone. "Don't go asking for favors when you don't need to. Besides, it's almost five o'clock. Tifa's probably busy with customers."

Her twin made an aggravated sound and didn't stop her efforts to reach the phone. "It's just one little call."

"Vanessa," she said sternly. "Don't call. Cloud and the others already know what's going on. If you call them, it'll just make it seem like I can't do my job." And while she wasn't quite as amazing as the crew that had saved the world on at least two (or was it three?) separate occasions, she _was_ more than capable of doing her job; any implication otherwise was vaguely insulting at best, which her twin well knew.

"…Fine." Vanessa reluctantly let her hand drop to her side. "But I relinquish my argument with great protest."

"So noted," Valeria said breezily, tacking on "What's for dinner?" as a means of effectively closing their previous topic of conversation.

And just as Valeria had intended, Vanessa grumbled some more about not liking her twin overworking herself and never being home at a decent hour, but returned to the kitchen.

An hour later, Vanessa and Valeria sat down to a joint-effort dinner consisting of over-boiled pasta and broccoli that was a little too crunchy to be fully steamed. It was still delicious, though, and kept them full, which was all the mattered in the end. And after some of the meals (or lack thereof) they'd had in the past, their fare of that night was a downright feast by comparison, so Valeria dug in with more enthusiasm than pasta and vegetables typically warranted.

Vanessa, meanwhile, was too worried to eat much of the food on her plate or engage in much conversation with her sister during the meal. The idea of another growing threat terrified her, though she did her best not to show it. Last year it had been Deepground her twin had fought against. Valeria had been one of the WRO soldiers to fight alongside Vincent in Calm, back when Deepground had first attacked him; Val had acquired a shrapnel wound from an exploding transport truck during that attack. And she'd also been at WRO Headquarters when Azul the Cerulean had come back from the dead while in their custody; the Tsviet had transformed into some sort of hideous beast and proceeded to decimate their forces. Valeria had later gone on to commanded a small group of WRO soldiers during the Deepground attack on HQ, and had been so effective at helping to repel the enemy forces (in spite of being shot once in the shoulder and twice in the leg) that she was now highly valued by Reeve.

Which only worried Vanessa more. It was all very well and good that Valeria was a valuable member of the organization now, but she was considered so impressive that she was often sent out on missions alone, or with only limited back-up. Which said a lot about her sister's skills, but all it did was terrify Vanessa. She was proud of her sister, of course, but…she was _so_ scared that one day Valeria would leave on a mission to help protect the world and never come home again.

Of course, since she and Valeria weren't entirely human anymore, the odds of this happening had gone down significantly. But still, the worry nagged at her. So what if they had been part of some experiment that had imbued them with some sort of materia energy. So what if they healed faster for it and were stronger at magic because of it. It didn't make them invulnerable to harm. They could still be killed. Valeria could still die on a mission. And then Vanessa would be all on her own. Her absolute worst nightmare.

"You look troubled," Valeria observed, choosing not to mention the fact she'd asked her twin to pass the butter for the fifth time and had been ignored. Also for the fifth time.

"Huh? Oh." Vanessa flushed. "Just thinking."

"I noticed," the older twin said mildly. "And the thoughts you're thinking can't be very good. Your face has been falling farther every minute."

"Uh, I, uh….Oh, I just-"

"You worry too much," Valeria said, interrupting her sister's stammering. "You get the same brooding look every time I tell you about how work's going."

"How can I not?" the younger twin demanded, unable to keep her thoughts to herself any longer. "When every time Reeve sends you out on a mission you might not come home. When every time your phone rings I-"

Her tirade was cut short by, of all things, Valeria's phone. Picking it up off the table, Valeria couldn't help but notice her sister's what-did-I-tell-you look.

 _Feeling vindicated? s_ he mouthed at her sister as she answered the phone, pausing only to glance at the caller ID. "Hey, Reeve."

Vanessa stabbed at her broccoli angrily. _Very,_ she hissed back inaudibly.

"Valeria," Reeve said through the phone, "I'm glad I could get a hold of you."

"What's going on?" she asked him. "You interrupted dinner," she added.

"My apologies, but it _is_ important."

Well, it was hardly her place to argue with the boss, especially if he said it was important. "Okay, go ahead."

"Remember those strange disappearances we were talking about earlier?"

"Yeah."

"Well, this could be entirely unrelated, but our sensors have picked up some sort of energy spike deeper in the city."

"Deeper?" she repeated, curious.

"Yes," he replied, "it seems to be coming from somewhere in an abandoned slum area."

"Are you sending someone to check it out?"

"That's where I was hoping you might come in," he answered. "I'd like for you to go have a look around."

"By myself?" she asked, ignoring her sister's over-dramatic face palming. She was used to working alone and honestly she tended to prefer it. It was incredibly stressful, working with a group of soldiers and being in charge of said group was even worse; it was a heavy responsibility and it limited her effectiveness just because she was constantly worried about keeping everyone under her command safe. So for her to be responsible for just her own welfare? It was a welcome relief.

But that was evidently not what Reeve had in mind. Because "No," he told her, "I'm sending Vincent and Shelke to accompany you."

"Why not Yuffie or Barret or someone? Even just my normal squad would be fine," she added, because if she had to go with others, she'd rather it be people she was accustomed to working with and vice versa. She had nothing but respect for Vincent Valentine and Shelke Rui, but being around them made her twitchy.

"Your squad's on a different assignment," Reeve informed her, "a last minute deployment out by Junon. But now that you mention it…Yuffie might be better suited to this task than Vincent. I'll have her meet you there instead."

"Okay," she replied. "I'll call you once we're done."

"Very well. I look forward to your report."

She hung up, and turned to her sister. "I have work to do," she said apologetically.

Her twin just glared at her. "I sorta figured that from the fact it was Reeve calling."

Valeria sighed. "Come on, Nessa, don't be mad. The work I do is important, you know that. I'm helping people."

Her twin tried to maintain her indignant expression, but relented. "I understand that," she said unhappily. "And I'm proud of the work you do. I just...I worry, is all."

Valeria smiled. "I know, but you don't _need_ to. I'm more than strong enough to look after myself, and besides," she added lightly, "Yuffie'll be there too."

"Are you _trying_ to give me an ulcer?" Vanessa demanded.

"Yuffie's a strong warrior," Valeria said. "She's the Wutai princess or whatever, remember?"

"Meh."

Valeria laughed. "You're such a brat, Nessa." She shook her head with a wry smile before heading for the door she'd come in through barely two hours before. "I'll see you when I get home, okay?"

Vanessa quickly rushed forward to hug her twin. "Please, _please_ be careful."

"I'll do my best," Valeria promised. And then she was gone out the door.

Vanessa stayed inside and listened as the roar of her sister's motorcycle got farther and farther away, trying and failing to keep the angry tears from falling.

_I'm so tired of being left all alone._


	2. Chapter 2

"So, what exactly are we looking for down here?" the perky ninja asked.

Valeria sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose to stave off a headache. "I have no idea. Something that gives out a weird power signature, apparently." She wished she'd thought to swing by headquarters for a scanner of some variety before coming; without any technology to help them, they were left to search the old fashioned way.

Yuffie, of course, seemed excited at the prospect of finding something interesting and didn't seem to share Val's lack of enthusiasm. "Ooh, like maybe a new materia?"

Valeria rolled her eyes. "Always about the materia for you, isn't it?"

"Not _always,_ " Yuffie argued, then gave a sly little smile. "But it could be one, right? I mean, there's tons of stuff down here no one knows about."

Valeria just shrugged, an amused grin quirking up the corners of her mouth. "I suppose so."

"Well, let's hurry up and hop to it, then! I can't wait to find it, whatever it is!" Yuffie bounced on her heels excitedly, eyes sparkling.

Unfortunately, finding the source of the energy spikes turned out to be not as simple as they'd hoped.

"This is taking _forever_ ," Yuffie complained after they had spent over two hours scouring the slums for any hint of the energy source "How much longer do we have to keep looking?"

"Until we find something," Valeria replied immediately, but there was no denying that she was exasperated as well. This was two hours she could have spent doing something else. _Anything_ else, really. _I need to stop agreeing to these random-ass missions_ , she thought to herself, feeling annoyed that she was out on what was probably a wild goose chase when she could be at home enjoying a nice dinner with her sister.

Then she heard something.

"Yuffie!" she hissed, flailing a hand at the Wutai teen, who was still complaining that they hadn't found anything remotely interesting yet.

Yuffie paused in her ranting and looked over at her with an eyebrow raised, and Valeria gestured for her to be quiet. The girl nodded, expression turning serious.

Then Valeria heard the sound again. After a second, she identified it; the scuffle of boots across the gravel. Valeria looked over at Yuffie, who nodded again; she'd heard it, too.

They quietly trailed after the footsteps, and eventually came upon the source. Valeria ducked behind a pillar while Yuffie crouched underneath a fallen billboard, both of them trying to remain hidden while trying to get a good look at whatever or whoever was making that sound.

Peering around the edge of the pillar, Valeria could see their targets clearly. A group of about eight or nine men, armed with assault rifles. And dressed strangely.

 _Weird armor,_ Yuffie mouthed.

Valeria nodded. It looked almost like chain mail. Which was ridiculous. No one wore chain mail anymore, it was too heavy to be practical.

"The signal came from nearby," one of the men was saying. "The energy matches the last samples taken from G."

Valeria frowned. _G?What the hell is G?_

"Can we be sure of this data, though?" another soldier asked, sounding skeptical.

"It was stolen directly from Deepground," the first man, seemingly a commander, snapped. "It's infallible, understand?"

The younger man flushed. "Yes, sir. Sorry sir."

Well, that answered one of her unspoken questions, at least; whoever these people were, they weren't leftover warriors from Deepground. That was all at once good and worrying. No more Deepground mooks trying to stir up trouble was indisputably good news; she wasn't in the mood to deal with those assholes again. But that of course meant it was some _other_ group of ragtag villains they would need to deal with.

She sighed. _I need a raise._

"We have a lock on the energy signal!" one of the men announced, holding a small gadget.

 _Ooh, must be nice having tech_ , Valeria mused, still giving herself a mental kick for not having had the forethought to have brought a scanner of their own; she consoled herself with the knowledge that the scientists back at headquarters probably wouldn't have cleared her to take any of their precious equipment with her, since she had a tendency to drop those expensive gadgets at inopportune times and break them.

Shaking her head to dispel her wandering thoughts, she gestured at the men to indicate that they should follow them, and Yuffie nodded.

After a few minutes of skulking in the shadows behind the group of strange soldiers, they arrived at what seemed to be an abandoned factor of some sort.

"This place is falling apart," the mysterious commander said in disgust, curling his lip up at a stack of moldering packing crates that was off to one side of the loading dock.

 _It's certainly seen better days_ , Valeria agreed silently as she watched them from her perch atop of an adjacent building, noticing also the peeling paint on the sign and the rotting wooden boards of the factory walls. Of course, this entire area had been abandoned as a whole years ago, so it such disrepair was to be expected, really.

"He's inside," the soldier with the gadget said, pressing several little buttons as if double-checking before glancing over at his commanding officer. "There's no mistaking the reading."

The commander nodded. "Cover the exits" he ordered his men. "We have to capture him."

 _Capture who?_ Yuffie mouthed, her facial expression one of confusion.

Valeria shrugged, and pulled out her phone. _When in doubt_ , she thought reasonably, _pester the boss_. So she quickly typed in a text to Reeve. _**Know anyone named G?**_ she asked him. _ **He seems to be the source of the signal. Some weird soldiers are trying to catch him.**_ She hit 'send' and redirected her attention back to the soldiers, hoping that Reeve wasn't stuck in a meeting with his phone off.

As she watched, the soldiers paired up and moved to block the entrances, moving in quick practiced movements that spoke of a fair amount of tactical experience. She drummed her fingers impatiently on the edge of the rooftop as she waited for a response to her inquiry. _Come on, Reeve. Check your damn phone._

As if in answer to her thoughts, her phone vibrated, alerting her to a new text. Relieved, she flipped her phone open and accessed the message. It was brief, but extremely clear and to the point.

_**Genesis. Stop them!** _

_Sounds good to me_ , she thought. _I'm tired off just sitting here and watching anyway._ Snapping the phone shut, she waved to grab Yuffie's attention. _We need to stop them!_ she mouthed, pointing to the men and adding in a couple gestures of Wutai military sign language just to make sure that the other woman understood what she was saying.

The Wutai girl's face lit up with understanding and she nodded, pulling out her giant shuriken and moving into a better attack position.

 _Where the hell was she keeping that thing until now?_ Valeria wondered, pulling her own bladed tonfa out of their sheaths on her back. She gripped the handles, took a brief moment to center herself, and then vaulted off the building.

The fall through the air was fast, but not too fast; she had just enough time to make sure her trajectory took her to where she wanted to go.

As she completed her fall, she slammed her right blade into the back of the soldier she'd nearly landed on, then quickly disengaged and rolled behind a fallen pillar as the other eight directed their fire at her, their weapons shooting bullets at her almost faster than she could track, despite the fact that the guns looked like old-fashioned rifles.

 _They're using machine-guns disguised as rifles?!_ she mentally demanded, as the rapid hail of bullets pelted the cement shielding her. _Who the hell came up with that?!_

Then she heard the slicing sound of Yuffie's massive shuriken arcing through the air, and she smiled. Her dramatic assault on that first soldier had distracted the remained warriors and left them wide open for Yuffie's attacks. Peering around the edge of the pillar, she saw that Yuffie had taken down three more soldiers in just under a minute. And now the soldiers were trying to shoot the ninja instead of Valeria, which was actually fairly amusing to watch since Yuffie bounced and flipped all around and pretty much just made it impossible for the soldiers to actually hit her with their shots.

But as entertaining as it was to watch, Valeria knew that the faster they finished off this fight the better.

Choosing a soldier across the courtyard as her target, she focused her powers. The experiments on Valeria and her twin had left them with a unique ability; they were able to cast on their own the sorts of spells that normally required the use of materia.

It was with great satisfaction that she watched the soldier go down after a hefty fireball to the back. She had to duck back behind her pillar immediately afterward to avoid getting shot to pieces, but it had been fun all the same. _Five down,_ she thought, doing a quick count of the bodies on the ground and the soldiers still standing, _four to go._

She ran out from behind the fallen pillar right as Yuffie leapt out of the shadows. Together they took down the rest of the soldiers, except for the commander, who seemed to be more skilled than they'd anticipated. He managed to dodge everything they threw at him, and Valeria couldn't get close enough to slash him with her blades.

But as luck would have it, she was spared the trouble of figuring how to kill the man when someone else did it for her.

Just as she was about to charge forward and try to lop off one of the commander's arms, a red sword pierced the man from behind, killing him instantly as it pierced his heart.

Yuffie raised her shuriken, ready to throw it if this new person turned out to be another enemy.

The person in question was a young man who seemed to be in his late twenties or early thirties, with red-brown hair and pale skin. He had the bright mako eyes of a SOLDIER, and wore a long red coat that looked a little worse for wear.

"You're Genesis?" Valeria guessed, not relaxing the grip on her tonfa just in case he turned out to be a new threat and not the person they were looking for.

The man looked at her, narrowing his eyes in suspicion. "And you are?"

"Valeria Tyler, with the WRO." She angled a blade towards her ninja friend. "This is Yuffie. Now… _are_ you Genesis, or aren't you?"

He nodded, sheathing his sword. "I am."

Then he collapsed.


	3. Chapter 3

Valeria had phoned Reeve and told him to send a chopper as soon as she and Yuffie had checked and made sure that Genesis was just unconscious and not dead. Reeve had agreed immediately, and had told her just before hanging up that he was summoning the other former AVALANCHE members to HQ so that they could have a discussion about the most recent developments once they returned.

 _Now we just have to carry him up to where the chopper's landing_ , she mused, looking at the unconscious former SOLDIER. Genesis, Reeve had told her, had been one of the best 1st Class SOLDIERs before he'd deserted. It had been complicated, Reeve had said, involving Jenova experiments and degradation and a long list of complex situations. When he'd started trying to explain to her something about a Dr. Hollander and Banora and gene-splicing, she'd cut him off. "I get the idea," she'd told him. "It's complicated. Have Shelke type up a report, and I'll read it later."Whether or not she'd _actually_ read that report was debatable, but at least she could say that she had the information at her disposal if she were someday so inclined.

"Yuffie," she said now, calling the ninja girl over from checking the bodies for materia and other salvageable loot, "help me carry him."

Yuffie's eyes widened in an almost comical fashion. "You're not serious," she said, kneeling down. "He's like twice my size!"

"Yeah, he's a bit on the tall side," she acknowledged." Bit scrawny, though," she added absently, poking the unconscious man in the ribs.

"Valeria!" Yuffie scolded, smacking at her hand.

The green-eyed woman arched an eyebrow but said nothing. Then her phone buzzed in her pocket with the call she'd been waiting for.

"Hello, Reno~" she answered cheerily. The red-haired Turk was someone she got along with well, and she enjoyed spending time with him during their off-hours. She liked that he always said exactly what was on her mind; it was a refreshing change of pace compared to all the close-mouthed people she'd met over the course of her life. That he had a wicked sense of humor also helped.

"Ah, Val." Reno's voice was light and friendly like always, with just a hint of chopper noise in the background of the call that let her know he was up in the air right now, presumably piloting "How you been?"

"Great. All things considered, anyway," she amended, giving another slight sigh as she glanced back down at the unconscious man on the ground.

"I take it you're referring to Genesis," Reno remarked.

"Yeah. He's out cold," she felt obligated to add. "How the hell am I supposed to get him to the meeting point?"

"Don't worry," Reno replied. "Rude and Tseng are here with me. They can come down and carry him up."

"That'd be great, Reno. Thanks."

"No problem. Hey," he added, a slight thread of anxiety threading its way through his voice, "you wanna go out for lunch sometime? This weekend maybe?"

She blinked, surprised by the unexpected change in topic. "Sure," she said immediately, not entirely sure why that question needed to be asked, since they normally ended up eating at the same cheap diners anyway. Still...it _was_ nice to be asked out properly, even if she knew it was just Reno being Reno. So..."I'd like that a lot," she told him.

"Okay, cool." Reno gave a slight chuckle, then made a startled sound as if something had suddenly caught his attention; judging from the beeping in the background it was probably something to do with his helicopter. "Okay, we'll be landing in a few minutes," he said a moment later. "See you soon." Then he hung up.

She stared at her phone, as if it were some device of magical power.

"Reno ask you out?" Yuffie asked, suddenly right behind her.

"Aah!" Valeria nearly toppled over sideways. "Don't sneak up on me like that!"

"So…yes?"

"Yes, what?" Valeria asked, brushing some invisible dust off her sleeve.

"Reno asked you out, right?"

"Uh, yeah?"

Yuffied squealed excitedly. "That's great! He really likes you, you know."

"Uhm….okay." She was pretty certain that Reno liked her as a friend and nothing more, but she was hardly going to get into that debate right now. So she just tucked her phone back into her pocket and returned her focus back to their mission. "Tseng and Rude are coming to help us carry _him_ ," she said, prodding Genesis with the toe of her boot again, and Yuffie rolled her eyes.

"Fine, fine," the ninja said in response. "So long as they hurry up."

"What's your rush, Yuf?" Valeria asked, looking at the ninja curiously.

"Well, we're heading back to HQ after this, right? And Reeve's calling everyone over, right?"

"Yeah."

"So Vince'll be there," Yuffie said matter-of-factly.

Valeria scrunched up her face in puzzlement. "Vincent?" she asked, needing to verify; she wouldn't have dreamed of calling the intimidating man in the red cloak 'Vince' as if he were an old friend who wouldn't bat an eye at the incongruous nickname. Then again, Yuffie and Vincent _were_ old friends, so that probably factored in.

"Yeah," Yuffie said. "I haven't seen him in ages. It'll be good to catch up. We were having a talk about moogles and motion sickness last time," she added lightly, "but some sort of minor crisis cropped up in the middle of it, and then I got called back to Wutai right after so we never finished. "

"Huh." Valeria couldn't help but wonder what that was like; having someone you'd known so long and were so comfortable with that you could go a while without seeing them and then reunite and carry on as if there had been no separation at all. The only person she'd even known for that long was her twin, and they'd never been apart for any extended period of time beyond the time Valeria spent on away missions.

Yuffie gave her a funny look. "What is it?" the young ninja asked. "You're making a weird face."

Valeria gave a shrug that she hoped came off as nonchalant. "It's nothing," she said dismissively. Then she heard footsteps approaching from a direction she wasn't expecting and stood up abruptly, whirling around and drawing one of her bladed tonfa.

"Relax," Rude said, putting his hands up in an I-come-in-peace gesture. "It's just us." He was, of course, wearing his trademark shades. It as a stylish look, but Val always found it slightly unnerving and borderline frustrating because it prevented her from seeing what exactly he was looking at at any given time.

"So it is Genesis after all," Tseng remarked quietly, coming over and kneeling next to the unconscious man.

"Apparently." She sheathed her tonfa after another quick look around to make sure no one had followed the Turks in.

"Well, let's get him back to headquarters," Rude said, leaning over and grabbing Genesis. He slung the other man across his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, and it was all Valeria could do to not burst out laughing at the bizarre sight.

Once they made it to the helicopter where Reno was waiting for them, they wasted no time in buckling Genesis in and taking off. Valeria spent most of the the helicopter ride back sitting towards the front with Reno, and they chatted about good lunch spots they could go to for their date. They were about to choose between a picnic on the outskirts and a homemade lunch at her apartment when her phone buzzed again.

"What?" she demanded, irritated at being interrupted. She still wasn't convinced that this little date was anything really romantically serious, but even so she'd been enjoying talking out plans with Reno.

"Hey," a vaguely familiar voice said, "it's Cloud."

"Oh, Cloud. Hi. Sorry for snapping," she added sheepishly, feeling just a little bit guilty for snapping at one of the world's most impressive heroes. Respecting others didn't come easy to Valeria, but she respected Cloud; it was hard not to, when it was clear how hard he tried to do the right thing. "What's up?" she asked.

"I'm at HQ with the others" he replied. "Reeve's wondering where you are."

"Let me check." She leaned forward and tapped Reno on the shoulder. "How far out are we?"

"Almost there." He pointed to a smudge on the horizon that she assumed was HQ; she generally came and went by land, and as such wasn't terribly familiar with how things looked from an aerial viewpoint. She trusted Reno's word, though; he was a fantastic pilot.

"We're almost there," she relayed to Cloud. "And by 'the others' do you mean…?"

"Everyone," Cloud confirmed.

"Great," she muttered. "It's a full-on party."

He chuckled quietly and then the line went dead.

They landed outside HQ a few minutes later, and some medics rushed up to the chopper once the rotors stopped spinning, all their attention focused on transferring Genesis to a gurney.

"We're taking him down to the infirmary," one medic told Valeria. "He's been missing-presumed-dead for years. Mr. Tuesti wants to make sure he's not critically injured or anything like."

"Let me know what you find?" Valeria requested.

The medic gave a crisp salute before joining her team in wheeling the unconscious ex-SOLDIER away. "Of course, ma'am."

The Turks left as soon as Genesis was safely on his way to the infirmary. They helped out the WRO when asked, but their ultimate loyalty was still to Rufus, and he'd called Tseng on their return flight, telling them to come back as soon as they were finished. Reno gave Valeria a playful wink and promised to call her, then hopped back into his chopper.

Once the arrival hubbub died down, Valeria and Yuffie made their way through the WRO base to a meeting room where the others were waiting. Valeria made sure to send a quick text to her sister letting her know that she was back safe from the mission. Before she entered the meeting room, her phone buzzed with her twin's response.

_**Home soon?** _

Valeria could practically envision her sister's hopeful face, and she sighed. _**Sorry**_ , she typed out. ** _More to do. Be home late._** She hit send unhappily, knowing her younger twin would be displeased.

But the return message her sister sent didn't _seem_ upset. _**No problem**_ ,it read. _ **See you later.**_

She sighed again, knowing that her twin was probably either fuming mad or darkly depressed...and also knowing that there was absolutely nothing she could do about it either way right then. She snapped her phone shut, and walked into the room, resolving to find a way to make it up to Vanessa somehow.

An hour later, after an exhaustively thorough debriefing, she'd absorbed only one piece of information.

"Chain mail?" she said incredulously. "It _was_ actually chain mail? Who the hell wears chain mail?!"

Reeve sighed. "Valeria…"

"Chain mail," she said disgustedly, leaning back in her chair and crossing her arms. "Ugh."

"Returning to the situation at hand," Reeve said sternly, giving her that could-you-please-behave look, "it seems like these soldiers in chain mail are part of a larger group, one that's responsible for the disappearances. As of yet, however, we don't know whether the disappearances are abductions, or simply people joining their group."

"We can't go after them if they're joining on their own," Cloud observed.

Reeve nodded. "Exactly. Even so," he turned to point at the screen behind him, "there have been numerous sightings of similarly dressed soldiers in relation to some attacks in wasteland towns. Assuming that those soldiers are from the same group, we can only assume that they _are_ up to something."

"And you want us to find out what," Vincent stated, his expression inscrutable as always.

Reeve nodded. "We need to know what it is they're after. We've barely stabilized after the Deepground incident," he added. "We can't afford another disaster right now." He stood up and surveyed the room, his gaze passing over all of them in turn. "I want you to investigate this. All of you. Find out what they're doing. Vincent, Shelke. I want the two of you to go back out to Nibelheim. See if this group has been sighted there. Barret, take Yuffie and investigate near Calm. According to the reports we've been receiving, nothing has happened there yet, but perhaps some of the locals have noticed something that might be helpful. Cloud," he went on, turning to address the blonde, "I need you and Tifa to stay in Edge. If someone were to launch a large-scale attack, Edge would be an effective target. Cid couldn't make it here for the meeting", he added, nodding to an empty seat at the table where the airship pilot would have been sitting, "but he'll be flying around keeping on an eye on things, too."

"And me?" Valeria asked, pointing at herself.

Reeve gave a thin smile. "Don't worry, Captain, I haven't forgotten you. I'm putting Genesis in your care," he told her. "Once he's awake, get to know him better. Then," he continued, "I need you to go out west to the wastelands. Investigate the attacks, and report back."

She nodded. "Yes, sir."

"Good. You can all go." As the others started to file out of the room, however, he stopped her. "One more thing," he said. "I can't provide you with any extra personnel for back up, so I want you to take Vanessa with you."

She stared at him, trying to make sense of the words he'd just said. All the words _sounded_ right, and seemed to be in the right grammatical order, and yet surely she'd misunderstood. "I'm sorry, _what?_ "

"I want you to take Vanessa with you on your mission to the wastelands," Reeve repeated patiently.

Okay, yeah, that's what she thought he'd said. After a brief moment of contemplation, she found she really had only one response. "Have you lost your mind?"

Reeve sighed. "Valeria…"

"I can't take her out there without knowing the risks," she argued. "You said yourself that we don't have a lot of information about what's going on. I could be walking straight into bloodbath, and you want to me bring my sister with me? The same sister I've devoted my entire existence to keeping safe and _away_ from harm? And let's not forget," she added angrily, "that I won't be alone on this mission. I'll be dragging along an ex-SOLDIER who was by all accounts _out of his damn mind_ before he vanished without a trace. Oh, but not before creating a civil war within the SOLDIER department itself," she added, her voice full of false brightness. "And yet somehow, it would be a _good_ idea to drag my precious twin sister into this mess?" She flailed her arms wildly. "Absolutely not! No way!"

Reeve heaved another sigh. "I can understand your concern-"

"Great," she said. "So it's decided: she's not coming."

-but she has the same powers you do," Reeve went on, acting as if she hadn't even spoken. "She can defend herself easily, enough should the situation escalate."

Valeria made a sound that was almost but not quite a growl. "I think you're missing the part where I don't want her in harm's way _in the first place_. I don't want there to be a _need_ for her to defend herself. She probably won't even want to go," Valeria tacked on, throwing in an admittedly flimsy excuse just to add some padding to her argument.

Reeve, being brilliant, saw that last bit as the pathetic diversionary tactic it was. "A chance to see her heroic twin sister in action?" he remarked lightly, his tone of voice playful in a way that told her he was only humoring her because he was confident she'd cave on the issue sooner or later. "I doubt she'd be willing to give that up."

She snorted. "Now you're just being ridiculous."

"But not more so than you," he replied. "Your sister is far from helpless, Valeria," he added gently. "I know you want to keep her safe and I know why...but you can't just keep her sheltered for the rest of your lives. It's not fair to her, and it's not fair to you."

She scowled, not liking what she was hearing but unable to come up with a satisfactory rebuttal. "I won't tell her that you want her to go," she said at last, abandoning her reasonable attempts at diversion in favor of being childishly obstinate.

"Valeria," Reeve said, shaking his head, "you need to trust me on this. It will be good for both of you if she goes along for the mission. Not only is she capable of looking after herself should things go south, she would also be an incredible asset to the mission. I don't need to tell you what a strong spell-caster she is, not to mention being one of the best snipers I've ever met."

"She is a good shot," Valeria conceded with a grumble. "I bought her two matching pistols for our last birthday," she added almost as an afterthought. "She's murder with those…"

"So she's more than capable of defending herself," Reeve reiterated for what felt like the hundredth time; it was somewhat tiresome to keep hammering on the same point over and over again, but he knew that Vanessa's safety was always Valeria's top priority regardless of whatever else might be going on. "The decision's ultimately up to you, Captain," he said at last, after a moment of tense silence between them, "but I really do think that taking her with you on this mission could be very beneficial. For the mission, and for you."

"Mm," was the only response Valeria gave, and Reeve would have found that discouraging had he not caught of a glimpse of her pensive expression as she gave him a distracted nod and excused herself, citing a sudden need to go do some overdue paperwork.

* * *

"You really are home late," Vanessa observed as Valeria came in, looking exhausted and worn.

"You waited up?" Valeria asked, dismayed. "It's been almost two hours." She hadn't meant to delay her return home for so long, but she'd had a lot rattling around in her head, and she'd needed to throw herself into her heaping piles of memos, briefings, and expense reports before finally getting herself centered and calmed down enough to think straight again. On the plus side, at least she was finally caught up on her paperwork; the poor clerk Reeve had assigned to badger her about turning in papers punctually would be pleased, no doubt.

Her younger twin shrugged, giving a strained smile. "It wasn't such a bad wait," she said, trying to reassure her sister. "I've begun re-reading _Loveless_."

Valeria laughed, amusement threading its way through her weariness. "Again? How many times is that now?" she asked teasingly. "Ten? Twelve?"

"Fourteen," Vanessa said proudly, beaming like she'd won a prize.

Valeria rolled her eyes. "You're so ridiculous," she said, shaking her head with a wry grin. The she remembered an interesting tidbit she'd noticed in one of the files Shelke had sent her earlier. "Genesis likes _Loveless_ ," she remarked absently. "At least according to what little information they've patched together about him."

Vanessa gave her a completely blank look. "Who?"

Valeria realized, somewhat belatedly, that she hadn't filled her sister in on the events of her day. "Have I got a story for you," she said to her twin.

"Wow," Vanessa said with a low whistle once she was done. "No wonder you couldn't come back for dinner."

"There's more," Valeria added, just a bit reluctantly, because what she would say next had taken her some time to decide about.

"More?" Vanessa asked incredulously. "What else is there?"

"Once Genesis is recovered," she replied, "I have to take him with me. On a mission to the wastelands." She handed her sister a small map that marked out her destination.

"What!" Vanessa's expression of curiosity crumbled into one of extreme unhappiness. "That's far, Val. You'll be gone for days."

"Yeah," Valeria agreed softly. "It is pretty far."

Vanessa looked down, eyes shining with emotion. "I'll miss you," she whispered.

And there it was, the moment of truth. Taking a deep breath, Valeria took a chance...and took Reeve's advice.

"Miss me?" she said, putting on an innocent face and making her voice light so that her twin wouldn't pick up on her inner distress. "How on earth could possibly you miss me, you'll be with me the whole time!"

Vanessa looked up, frowning in utter bafflement. "What are you talking about?"

Valeria pasted a wide grin on her face. "What do you think I'm talking about, dummy? You're coming with."

A moment of shocked silence, then her sister gave a loud whoop and tackled her in a fierce hug. "Seriously?! Like, really, seriously?"

"Seriously," Valeria confirmed, giving a genuine laugh at her sister's enthusiasm. "Congratulations, baby sister. You're an active member of the WRO."


	4. Chapter 4

Valeria woke up before the sun rose the next day, in spite of her lingering exhaustion from the previous night and a strong need for _just five more minutes_ of sleep. She even briefly considered burrowing back under the covers. She'd been conditioned too well, though, and was too used to functioning on little to no sleep; once she was up, she was _up,_ and that was that.

So she rolled out of bed, took a quick but satisfying shower, and got dressed, pausing for a moment to yank a brush halfheartedly through her hair before tugging the still-damp mass back into a loose ponytail. Considering the fact that she was going to officially introduce herself to a formerly famous SOLDIER First Class in just a few hours, she probably should have opted for an outfit more impressive than her standard jeans-and-jacket fare, but screw it. The only clothing she had that would have fit the bill was her WRO dress uniform, and she could count on one hand the number of times she'd worn _that_...and she couldn't recall a single instance where she'd worn it voluntarily rather than under orders.

Oh well. At least her hair was brushed. Mostly.

She tugged on her boots and did up the laces with quick, practiced motions then went to roust her sister.

Her twin was, unsurprisingly, still slumbering peacefully under her patchwork quilt. Vanessa, unlike Val, slept deeply pretty much always, and absolutely loathed getting up any earlier than was necessary. IT was like she was trying to make up for all the sleep she'd missed out on while they were in captivity. Part of Valeria was a bit jealous of how soundly her sister always slept; Vanessa didn't seem to be plagued by the nightmares and flashbacks that always haunted her twin's sleep...but Val was glad for her sister, too. They'd been through so much shit, at least one of them deserved peaceful nights. And Valeria had to pick between the two of them, she would rather it be Vanessa, anyway.

But as much as she wanted to let her sister continue with her comfortable slumber, it was up and at 'em time. They'd be leaving for the wastelands in just over five hours and there was lots to do in the meantime.

So she took a deep breath, the yanked the thick quilt up and away from her sister, exposing her twin, dressed only in a thin nightgown, to the chilly morning air.

Vanessa bolted upright automatically, eyes wide, but then slumped back down onto her bed again when she saw that it was just Valeria. "Five more minutes," she mumbled, eyes drifting shut.

"Nice try," Valeria said, snatching her sister's pillow and tossing it across the room. "But we've got lots to do and not a ton of time." She clapped hr hands together. "So, let's go, chop chop."

Vanessa just groaned.

Valeria rolled her eyes. "If you don't get your ass in gear," she said warningly, "I'm going to leave you behind."

That got the response she'd been aiming for.

Vanessa vaulted out of bed so quickly that Valeria would have been knocked to the ground if she hadn't quickly sidestepped at the last second. "Don't you dare leave without me," her twin hollered as she darted into the bathroom to shower.

"Hurry the hell up," Val replied evenly, "and I won't."

A hairdryer came sailing out of the bathroom and towards Valeria's head with an alarming velocity. Amused, Val caught it before it smacked into her forehead. "Is this a suggestion or a threat?" she asked wryly.

Vanessa's retort was lost in the sound of the shower spray, which was, Valeria reasoned, maybe for the best. Her sister could have a pretty sharp tongue once she got in the right (or wrong) mood. Thankfully, her sister's spate of spitfire behavior would peter out soon enough; Val predicted that her sister would be bright-eyed and busy-tailed for maybe another twenty minutes tops before her drowsiness returned and crankiness set in.

Which was why it was so important for Val to make sure her twin got ready now, while she was still excited about the mission and before her mood soured from being woken up earlier than usual. Better to have a drowsy and irritable Vanessa who was dressed and on the move than an equally drowsy and irritable Vanessa who was still in bed and not inclined to join the land of the living until well after the sun had crested the horizon.

So she made sure to hover outside the bathroom door and badger her twin the second she stepped out, making her Vanessa got dressed in practical clothing rather than the long flowing skirts she seemed to prefer, and then ushered her out of the apartment and downstairs to where a WRO transport was waiting to pick them up, per Reeve's orders. Vanessa wanted to sit down and have breakfast first, but Valeria had made a pointed remark about the transport driver being up at an ungodly hour and that had seemed to guilt her twin in hurrying downstairs, although the prospect of breakfast at the WRO cafeteria wasn't particularly appealing to either of them.

They arrived at headquarters in what felt like good time, but Valeria couldn't be sure because she'd been too distracted by the fact her sister had somehow fallen asleep in her seat along the way, her head slumping down onto her chest as she gave the most ridiculous little snorting snores.

"I hope to the Goddess that I don't snore like that," she said at one point after a particularly intense snore, and their driver laughed. "And you better not mention this to anyone," she added teasingly, sending him a mock glare. "I'd hate to have to chop of your head or something in retaliation."

He only laughed harder. "Whatever you say, Captain," he said, still chuckling heartily as he returned his focus to the road before them.

In any case, they arrived at headquarters in good time, and Valeria turned her attention to poking and prodding her sister into hopping down out of the car and walking inside the building. Her sister gave a massive yawn that almost had Valeria yawning automatically in response as they stepped into one of the many elevators littering the hallway by the front entrance and rode it up to the cafeteria.

Once there, Vanessa plopped herself down at the closest available table and buried her head in her arms with another yawn. Rolling her eyes, Val went over to the all-hours buffet of hot foods and made up two trays of food. This early, with none of the cooks out of bed yet, there was only gloppy oatmeal and something that seemed to resemble some sort of meatloaf, albeit with a bizarre purplish tinge that had Valeria questioning its origins.

She got herself a heaping scoop of the oatmeal, added as much sugar and cream as she could, then grabbed an apple for her sister from the fruit bowl perched on the edge of the condiments counter. She wished there was something more to eat, but they'd come in so early it was gruel or bust. Never one to pass up a source of calories when she burned through energy so fast, she really had no choice but to eat whatever was available. Her sister, luckily, didn't have precisely the same metabolism and didn't use her powers in quite the same way Valeria did, so she didn't have a similar problem. Valeria also knew that her twin would only stare at the meatloaf in utter horror and regard the oatmeal in much the same way, so even attempting to get her sister to eat any of either would be in exercise in futility at best. She just hoped the apple would get a better reception.

Thankfully, her sister did seem to accept the apple as a suitable form of sustenance, although all she really did was take a large bite out of it, nibble at it a little more, then doze off with it held loosely in her hand as if she'd lost interest mid-bite and had decided that sleep would be a better option over eating.

Valeria just scooped oatmeal into her mouth as quickly as she could without burning her tongue, watching her sister with more than a little amusement as Vanessa sat napping at a cafeteria table. A morning person, her sister really was not.

In any case, she finished her oatmeal, nabbed her sister's apple and took a bite out of it for good measure, then threw all of the trash away before depositing their dirty trays in a bin set off to the side for specifically that purpose. Then she tugged her sister to her feet. "Come on, let's go."

Vanessa grumbled some more, but Valeria succeeded in shepherding her sister back out of the cafeteria and to the elevator, this time hitting the button for the floor where her office was. She'd gotten through most of her paperwork last night, but there were still a few forms that needed to be completed, forms that also required some input from Vanessa.

So she sat her sister down in the seat across from her desk that was normally occupied by Val's squad members whenever they came in to talk to her. Vanessa perked up a bit at finally seeing her sister's office, but let out another groan when her twin put a stack of papers in front of her. "You're joking, right?"

Valeria gave a half-smile. "Afraid not." She pulled a pen out of a desk drawer and passed it to her twin. "It's just the liability paperwork for your temporary enlistment with the WRO," she added in explanation.

"Liability paperwork?" Vanessa echoed, staring down at the forms in bewilderment.

"Relax," Valeria said easily. "It's no big deal. Just Reeve covering his ass legally should something go terribly, terribly wrong."

Her twin didn't look very reassured. "There's an awful lot here," she said dubiously, flipping through the top pamphlet.

Valeria snorted. "Oh, please. That's nothing. You should see the forms for requisitions. _Those_ are a nightmare."

Vanessa heaved a sigh, but picked up the pen and went to work, pausing occasionally only to read portions of it aloud so Valeria could confirm the meaning and intent. Once she was done reading, and reasonably sure that she'd understood the majority of it, she signed in all the appropriate places before handing it back to Val, who in turn worked her way through the pages, double-checking everything before she added her own scrawling signature to the final page as the requisite WRO witness.

"I bet Cloud and Vincent don't have to bother with all this crap," Vanessa grumbled as Valeria folded up the papers and slipped them into an official-looking manila envelope.

"Technically," Valeria remarked, "they _are_ supposed to. But Tifa handles all of Cloud's because Cloud just ignores it. Vincent, being immortal, likewise thinks it's a waste of time."

"And you _don't_ think it's a waste of time?" Vanessa asked disbelievingly.

"Oo, no," Valeria replied immediately. "I think it's a complete waste of time. But it keeps Reeve from griping to me about following the proper protocols."

 _That_ Vanessa could believe. Her twin had limited patience for bureaucratic nonsense. But she had even less patience for being nagged about such things (Vanessa couldn't count the number of times her twin had come home form work complaining about her paperwork-obsessed assistant, Shun) so it made sense for Valeria to go along with Reeve's mandatory paper storms even if she'd rather not.

"Okay," Valeria was saying now as she stood up. "I'm going to go drop this off with Reeve and then we can head down to the armory to get you suited up."

Vanessa managed to look faintly alarmed even mid-yawn. "Suited up?" she asked, trepidation clear in her tone.

"Don't worry," Valeria said with a wink as she strode out the door. "I'll try to not go overboard when I smother you in protective bubble-wrap."

* * *

Vanessa tried to not feel guilty as she snooped around her sister's office. She was still drowsy and would rather have been taking a powernap on the little couch in the corner, but she'd never had a chance to really scope out her sister's office before and she didn't want to lose her chance.

At first glance, there didn't seem to _be_ much to see; a desk with files and papers stacked according to some unique Valerian system of organization, a file cabinet similarly arranged, a bookcase against one wall that seemed to have an odd assortment of history books and military memoirs...it was like any other office for any other captain or officer.

Valeria began to worry about the seeming lack of personalization (surely that wasn't normal?), but then started to notice all the little things that proved her assumptions wrong.

Mixed in with war memoirs was a small collection of those silly comic books her twin had taken such a liking to. And over on top of her filing cabinet was the small bonsai tree Yuffie had given to Val for their last birthday. And, perhaps more tellingly than anything else, there were two framed photo's on her sister's desk. One was of Val with her WRO squad; the other was of Vanessa.

It took her a minute to recognize the photo and remember when it had been taken, but when she did, she smiled.

It had been not long after Vincent had dealt with Deepground and Omega, she recalled. She'd been helping with the wounded in the WRO infirmary even days later, and Val had been up to her ears in all varieties of rescue and recovery missions, ranging from hunting down escaped Deepground operatives to returning stolen children to their families. Eventually, they'd both hit a day where they'd both been ordered to take some time off to rest and regroup. They'd wasted no time in packing a picnic lunch and getting the hell out of town for the day.

Valeria had, unbeknownst to Vanessa at first, brought along an old camera. Her twin had then proceeded to snap photos of all sorts of things; Vanessa, the sky, a flock of birds overhead.

When Vanessa had asked her why, Val had given a slight shrug and crooked smile.

"So I"ll have something to remind me of the good times," she'd said, "for the next time things go bad."

Vanessa hadn't quite known what to say in response to her twin's statement, and even now looking back she wasn't sure how she felt about it.

Once thing she was certain of, though, was how absolutely ridiculous she looked in that photograph.

It was still sweet of Val to keep it on her desk, though.

* * *

Valeria returned to find her sister curled up on the small fold-out couch and, after a brief moment of consideration, grabbed a small bottle of water from the minifridge and dumped it on her sister's head. Vanessa woke up sputtering and Valeria wasted no time in bustling her out the door, taking advantage of her twin's indignant fury to get her moving at a fast clip towards the armory.

Once there, she made sure her sister equipped herself suitably; Vanessa had her own handguns, but Valeria wanted to make sure that she was adequately armed with back-up weapons just in case something went wrong with the guns. So she made her sister take two small daggers and a flash grenade, just as a precaution. Val wasn't planning to get into a situation where her twin was in any real danger that they couldn't handle, but it didn't hurt to be prepared.

Vanessa, for her part, just yawned from time to time but otherwise let Valeria fuss over her until she was satisfied that her twin was outfitted sufficiently.

Then Val checked the time, realized that they were due in the infirmary to pick up Genesis, and hurried her twin back to the elevator.

They managed to make it to their final destination in relatively good time despite bumping into a variety of other WRO members who suddenly had a need to stop the twins and chat them up about nothing in particular even as they tried to hustle to where they were going. _Why was it_ , Valeria wondered, _that things like that only happened when you were trying to get somewhere in a hurry?_ It just wasn't fair.

Still, they were only a few minutes late, so Val counted it as a win. Her sister on the other hand, was alternating between grouchy and drowsy again, and didn't seem particularly thrilled at having been run all over the base when she would have preferred to be in bed.

" _Now_ what are we doing?" Vanessa grumbled as they entered the infirmary.

"Checking up on Genesis," Valeria replied. "Reeve didn't give me the details, but supposedly he's ready to be released from the infirmary. Ah, there he is." Valeria saw the former SOLDIER sitting on an infirmary bed, with a nurse taking his blood pressure.

The nurse, a woman named Claire Yale with whom the twins were well-acquainted, nodded to her as they approached. " Ah, Captain Tyler," she said. "Good morning."

"Good morning," Valeria answered. "Do you have any coffee?"

"You seem awake enough to me," the nurse noted absently as she wrote down Genesis's blood pressure on her clipboard and set about deflating the band around his arm.

"It's not for me," she said with a laugh, pointing at her twin. "Nessa's not a happy early bird."

Chuckling, Claire set her clipboard aside. "Wait here," she said. "I'll be right back."

Valeria turned back to Genesis. "So," she said after a moment of looking at him intently. "How are you feeling?" He _looked_ well enough; a little tired maybe, but without that about-to-collapse-and-die look he'd had the day before; it seemed like Valeria and Yuffie had gotten there just in the nick of time.

Although the jury was still out on whether or not finding Genesis and bringing him back here had really been a _good_ idea; there hadn't been any real alternative, but it was still unpleasant, having such a big unknown sitting smack-dab in the middle of their base of operations.

The red-headed man looked at her, and frowned slightly. "Fine," he said after a moment. Then he looked at her more closely. "You're the one from yesterday. Your name was…"

"Valeria Tyler," she supplied, seeing no reason to withhold her identity. "This is my sister, Vanessa," she added, gesturing to her twin.

Genesis cast her sister what would have been a cursory glance, then gave a quick blink of surprise once he really saw her. "You two are…"

"Twins," she said, nodding. "Yeah, we are. Oh, there's the nurse," she observed as a familiar figure came back towards them.

Claire returned to them a few seconds later, with a Styrofoam cup of coffee in one hand and a file folder in the other. "Here, Nessie," the nurse said, handing the coffee to the younger twin.

"Thanks," Vanessa said with a fervent murmur, sipping on the caffeinated beverage gratefully.

"And this, Valeria," Claire said, spinning to face the green-eyed twin, "is for you."

"Let me guess, more paperwork?" the older twin asked tiredly, taking the folder with an air of resignation.

"Nope," Claire replied. "Reeve dropped by not long ago and left that with me to give to you. I think he meant to give it to you himself earlier," she added, "but it must have slipped his mind."

"Well, he is pretty busy," Valeria conceded, not terribly troubled by the delay; she was hardly in any position to complain about tardy reports. "What is it?" she asked curiously.

"It's the information on the wasteland towns," Claire responded, "such as it is."

She flipped through the file. "This is it?" She made a sound of disgust. "Claire, this just overview maps and sketchy info."

Claire shrugged. "Reeve said it's the most recent information."

Valeria rolled her eyes. "I'll bet." The only information he could get last minute, more like. She closed the file. "How is he?" she asked, switching the topic and pointing at Genesis.

Claire didn't bat an eye at Valeria's abrupt change of subject. "Good to go, as far as I can tell. Blood pressure 's base-norm for a SOLDIER of his level, and there don't seem to be any cardiovascular or respiratory issues to speak of. The mako-concentration levels in his blood are higher than I would have expected, but it doesn't seem to be affecting him in any negative way. There are some signs of malnutrition and dehydration," she added, picking up her clipboard and tapping at some test results, "but nothing major. Physically, he seems to be in decent enough health. Just make sure he doesn't strain himself, or get injured in battle."

"I wasn't planning for there to be much battle at all," Valeria replied, frowning. "We're supposed to just do simple reconnaissance, with Genesis there in an advisory and probationary capacity." Bringing Genesis along was their best idea for how to gauge where he was at right now, both mentally and physically, and whether or not he could be trusted. Valeria had been fairly ambivalent to the idea at first, but now she wasn't so sure it was the right move. "Is Reeve expecting us to run into trouble?"

"I'm just a nurse, Val," Claire replied blandly. "How should I know?"

Valeria snorted. " _Just_ a nurse, my ass." Claire had been one of the most talented WRO snipers before she'd decided to retire from fighting and pour her energies into saving lives instead of taking them.

Claire just rolled her eyes and turned back to her patient. "Well, Mr. Rhapsodos," she said, signing the sheet on her clipboard, " I officially give you a clean bill of health. Which is surprising, to be honest. Considering the state you were in when Val found you, I was xpecting to need to keep you here much longer than one night." She shook her head, a rueful smile tugging at her lips. "I'd be impressed that you recovered so quickly, but you SOLDIER types are always like that, I suppose."

Genesis just shrugged, not seeming to have anything to say.

Claire sighed. "Well, Val, he's all yours. Just remember what I said. Don't overdo it."

"Yeah, yeah. I know."

"Val," the nurse said sternly. "I'm serious."

"So I see," she remarked lightly.

"Valeria-"

Val put up a hand to ward off whatever tirade was building. "Relax, Commander Yale. I'll keep an eye on him, I swear."

Claire, seemingly mollified by Val's promise, discharged Genesis from her care and the ex-SOLDIER stood up and left with Valeria with no complaint.

He didn't seem to have much of an opinion about his situation either way, actually, judging from the faintly bored look on his face as they left the infirmary. Valeria wasn't sure what to make of the expression on his face; either he really didn't care about what was happening, or he was keeping his true feelings well-hidden under an inscrutable mask of indifference.

Well, whatever the case was, Valeria was going to keep an eye on him, just as she'd promised. What she hadn't told Claire, though, was that if Genesis turned out to be dangerous...if he posed a risk to her sister and the future she'd been fighting so hard for all this time...she wouldn't hesitate to do whatever was necessary to remove the threat he posed.

Shaking her head to dispel those dark thoughts, she decided to start off easy and see where things went from there. "Let's start from the beginning again," Valeria said as she led Genesis and her sister down to one of the parking garages. "I'm Captain Valeria Tyler. This is my twin sister Vanessa."

The ex-SOLDIER gave a faint smirk, as if he found her attempt at proper introductions amusing. "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Captain Tyler," he said. "My name is Genesis Rhapsodos. SOLDIER First Class," he added absently, as if out of habit.

"Great," Val said, deciding to not point out that defecting from Shinra made him very definitely not a member of SOLDIER anymore, even if SOLDIER had still been around; better to save that conversation for a later date. "What were you doing in the slums," she asked instead, "and why were those men after you?"

Genesis remained silent, his expression lapsing once again into that aggravating blankness. It was annoying to see, especially since from what Valeria had read in the files Shelke had given her Genesis was supposed to be very open with his thoughts and emotions; right now talking to him about anything significant was like trying to get expressive answers from a brick wall.

She sighed. "You do realize we're on the same side, right?"

He looked at her, and now the suspicion in his mako-bright eyes was clear. "How can I be sure of that?" he demanded.

She resisted the urge to sigh, but only just. _This is going to be a long day._ "World Regenesis Organization," she said by way of answer, pointing to the patch on her jacket sleeve. "WRO. Our goal is to help restore the planet. To fix the damage that was done to it."

"By Shinra," he said darkly, his voice so full of bitterness and anger that it made the air crackle with tension.

She nodded, not flustered by the venom in his tone. "Yeah." She tucked her hands into her pockets to quell her instinctive need to fidget. "I don't know if we'll even be able to undo most of what's been done," she admitted. "But we _are_ trying."

"Val's one of the best the WRO has," Vanessa chirped from behind them, pitching in unexpectedly. "She has her own squad and everything."

Valeria cast her sister an amused look. ""Finally woken up, have you?"

"Coffee," her twin declared, "is magical."

Valeria snorted. "If you say so, sis." She turned back to Genesis. "My main point here is...we're on the same side. I am not trying to make you uncomfortable or ferret out your deep dark secrets," she went on seriously. "My assignment is to get to know you better and make an evaluation about whether or not we should keep you around. To do that," she continued carefully, "I need as much information as possible, so I can make an informed decision."

He looked at her intently for a long time, even stopping mid-step to narrow his eyes at her, as if trying to see clear through to her soul and determine whether she was being honest with him or not.

Valeria just arched an eyebrow, not saying anything. She was content to stand there all day and wait for him to make up his mind, if that was what it took. She and her sister understood better than most the need to be _absolutely sure_ you could trust someone. And they also knew what could go wrong if that trust was misplaced.

So they waited, and after a while Genesis seemed to make up his mind, at least for the moment. "I woke up underneath Midgar a year ago," he began. "I found...someone else" he added hesitantly, "when I awoke. I took him with me, and we left the cavern where I had been sleeping."

Valeria frowned. "But there was no one else near the slums where we found you," she remarked. "Reeve sent in a team to look around after we brought you back here. They didn't find anything."

Genesis nodded, not seeming surprised by this at all. "We split up before I went to the slums. I don't know where he is now," he added, looking faintly worried.

"Where was he going?" Vanessa asked curiously.

Genesis shrugged. "We'd heard rumors of something going on to the west. He went to investigate."

"West, huh?" Valeria clicked her tongue and nodded. "The wastelands. We're going there for our mission," she added.

He now looked surprised. "To the wastelands?"

She nodded. "Yep."

Genesis's expression turned speculative. "Then maybe we'll find him there."

Valeria made a noncommittal sound. "Maybe," was all she said.

"How long has he been gone?" Vanessa asked, elbowing her sister in the side.

"Almost a month," Genesis responded. "He should have returned by now. Something must have happened."

"Well," Valeria said, opening the double doors that led to the underground garage, "hopefully he'll turn up during the course of our investigation and you can put your mind at ease. All I'm really hoping for is to get some answers about what's going on with all these stupid disappearances. It's like Deepground all over again," she muttered darkly, then shook herself, pulling out her car keys and going over to her car.

Vanessa groaned. "Oh no. You're not serious. Not the Atlas."

"What's wrong with my Atlas?" she asked, offended. A type of practical all-terrain vehicle, her Atlas Model 380 gave off the vibe of an outdated hunk of military hardware, but it was still sturdy and dependable. A little worse for wear, maybe, but what beloved vehicle wasn't?

Vanessa just heaved a long-suffering sigh. "You can pick any car you want from the whole garage, and you pick the same old Atlas."

"I love my Atlas," she said defensively. "Besides," she added reasonably, "it's the best choice for a trip out to the wastelands."

"I don't like it," Vanessa grumbled.

"No one is asking you to like it," Valeria said, rolling her eyes. "Now get in," she ordered as she jumped into the driver's seat. Genesis slid into the front passenger seat without comment while Vanessa climbed into the back, muttering darkly the entire time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case anyone's wondering, for the purposes of this story, an Atlas is basically an old Jeep. Think of a WWII Jeep and that's basically what I picture as Val's Atlas 380. XD


End file.
